Former US Attorney General Eric Holder is the first
African-American to have held that prestigious title of office, and he
has only tweeted 121 times in his life. However, after watching the
debate, his three tweets cut right to the heart of everything dangerous
and wrong with Republican nominee Donald Trump’s putrid debate promise;
to jail Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.In response, former Attorney General Holder jumped onto twitter and scolded the angry Republican’s ugly and dangerous statement:In America, the President doesn’t own the Attorney General, he appoints that person and the Congress confirms the office holder, who then swears an oath to defend the Constitution.
That’s what it means to be a nation of laws. That’s why former Attorney
General Holder pointed out the long tradition of independence in
America’s top law enforcement job.He’s right; This is yet another disqualifying remark by Donald Trump. Terrifyingly, Chris Christie is the official head of Trump’s
transition team – which is now a lawful federal government office – and
widely thought to be the Republican Party’s choice for Attorney General
if voters decide to destroy the United States by electing a lunatic as
President.

The history of the top law enforcement role in America is littered
with episodes of integrity and law over personal obedience and politics,
and the reason that our democracy can function with differing
viewpoints. It was called The Saturday Night Massacre
the last time a President felt compelled to give orders to that lofty
office’s occupant. Then Attorney General Eliot Richardson spurned disgraced ex-President Richard Nixon and resigned instead – as did the Deputy Attorney General.

More recently, the Bush Administration tried to bully
Attorney General John Ashcroft – who was incapacitated with
pancreatitis and near-death in a hospital bed – into signing an order
giving the White House vast, warrantless spying powers. Then-acting
Attorney General James Comey (yes, the same Comey who is the FBI
director today, was a Republican appointee) told the entire horrifying
tale of White House Counsel Alberto Gonzalez and Bush’s Chief of Staff
trying to bully a desperately sick Ashcroft, who even in his weakened
state strongly told off the President’s men. Their egregious act of
coercion set off an actual police chase initiated by Comey which
ultimately ended in failure, but only because of the principled threat of mass resignations at the Department of Justice.Trump made his grotesque threats in response to Hillary Clinton’s deletion of 33,000 private emails, but hasn’t mentioned that same Bush Administration‘s deletion of 22 million emails which would have explained why America was misled into the Iraq War — and so much more.President Obama made an outstanding choice elevating Eric Holder to
the Attorney General’s office. The next leader of the Justice Department
should heed his wise words carefully — let’s hope it isn’t Chris
Christie.